Destiny's Embrace
by Terqua
Summary: Aqua, A Girl From A Faraway Land, Meets A Boy Who Calls Himself Xehonart, But Is He Who He Says He Is? Terqua, TerraXAqua Also could be called XehanortXAqua But... yeah...


Aqua's heels stung as she was running through the forest, she knew she should stop but the images of what she had just seen kept flashing in front of her eyes.

How could father do that to a person? There was no light to be seen through the thick canopy of trees overhead, no heat came through causing goose bumps to rise on Aqua's skin.

She was short of breath. The corset was digging into her ribs. Her long, blue hair now falling free over her shoulders.

She falls; the damp foliage is too much for her balance. Looking up she sees a boy not much older than herself with drops of red liquid splattering his hunting gear.

"Are you alright miss?" he asks, but it's all too much and she faints.

Aqua wakes, looking around she notices that she is in what appears to be a small cave, the unknown boy watching her with a damp cloth to her forehead.

"Who are you?" she demands, "answer me" "I'm... ah... Xehanort, pleasure to meet you, may I inquire what you are doing this far into the forest?" He asks as he pours cool water into a goblet and mixes in what looks to be some sort of herb.

"I got lost. What is it that you are doing there? What is that herb?" Aqua asked curiously.

"This is an old recipe from my homeland; it is used to calm the nerves." He replied pushing the goblet into her hands "drink it"

. She holds it up and then gets a glimpse of an intricately designed silver bracelet. Noticing her glance he quickly covered it pushing the drink towards her mouth.

"Oh fine I'll drink your concoction" was her huffy reply as she tipped the tangy liquid down her throat.

She watches as the young man tends to a fire and proceeds to sharpen a long handled axe. Aqua had seen a weapon like that before. Her father, Eraqus, had some hanging in the halls next to planked wooden shields and heavy helmets.

He would stare at them sometimes and always seemed to have a frown on his face; there was a history with fathers warriors that she was not aware of.

One thing was for sure, they were nothing like the Swords and shields of fathers soldiers, they looked older, heavier, but somehow the young man was able to hold the weapon with ease.

As she starts to feel woozy he slips her a piece of jewellery that she can't quite make out and lifts her into his arms.

"You will be alright my dear princess, I will have you home shortly" was the last thing she heard before the world went black with the depths of sleep.

She woke up in her elegant bed surrounded by her ladies maids. A ray of light pierces through the giant stained glass window illuminating her prayer corner.

"Inform his majesty that she has awoken" a maid whispered to the guard on the door. A minute later Eraqus walked in with a doctor in tow.

"Are you feeling alright?" he enquired. The blunette meekly nodded her head in response.  
"Why did you run?"

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes and asked, "Father, why did you hang that man? What did he do?" "Do not worry yourself with such matters. It is not a young lady's place" "Where is the boy? The one with the bracelet, where is he?"

"The boy has returned to his homeland accompanied by three of our finest guards, don't think of him again, it is not proper of a girl who is to be married in the coming years."

"But father, I will not marry him, I do not even know him!" "This marriage is not for your benefit, it is for peace in our province, and you will do it."

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The pitter patter of rain caused Aqua to draw the curtains closed, blocking out the ever changing countryside.

This is something that she never had to do back home. Now a grown woman of eighteen her blue hair which now was cut into a short bob, was styled with a tiara that matched the extravagant dress that she couldn't believe had taken a year and a half for her father's seamstresses to make.

Although it was the most beautiful dress she had ever worn she could not appreciate it knowing that it signified the beginning of a life with the man she had grown up hearing about but had never laid eyes on.

In her white gloved hands she held the crescent moon pendant that she had worn every day, for five years, since that strange meeting in the forest with Xehonart.

As the church loomed over head, she couldn't help but wonder what happened to Xehonart, that strange foreign boy that had cared for her.

Why had father forbid her from knowing anything about this boy, or where he had come from?

Aqua was pulled out of her reminiscing by the carriage door being opened and a hand taking hold of hers to help her down onto the walkway.

She quickly hid the pendant inside her keepsake box to keep it safe during the ceremony that forbids her to wear it.

As the giant church doors opened she could hear the sounds of spectators, but she kept her eyes on her feet, from a mixture of nerves and sorrow.

It wasn't until she had almost reached the end of the aisle and her future that she started to look up and saw something familiar.

It was a silver bracelet with intricate designs on it. The shock almost made Aqua stumble, but she knew she had to keep going.

She was to marry prince Terra. She had to be seeing things; he could not be wearing that same bracelet.

But as she came to a halt in front of the prince he turned and extended his hand with a smile on his face and she knew it was him.


End file.
